YuGiOh! I'm Thankful For
by Skyla Doragono
Summary: A Thanksgiving fic, dedicated to those who matter most. Yugi writes a poem to that special someone...


Yu-Gi-Oh!  
I'm Thankful For...  
.  
.  
The warm smell of a wonderful meal wafted out of the Kame Game Shop on a cold Thursday morning, spilling out not only onto the street but up the stairs to the living portion of the shop as well. Yugi Mutou rolled over in bed, stretching his arms above his head as he allowed himself to be lulled into the waking world by the aroma of a turkey basting in the oven. True, people in Japan did not celebrate Thanksgiving like they did in America, but they had a reason for doing so this year. Professor Hawkins and his granddaughter Rebecca were going to be visiting, and his grandfather thought it would be wonderful to celebrate the holiday.  
  
After taking a moment to wake up a little more, Yugi hopped out of bed and quickly dressed in a sweatshirt and pants before racing to the kitchen to help his mother and grandfather with the cooking. When he got there, however, he was surprised to see a third person hovering over a pot, intent with what he was cooking.  
  
"Mou hitori no boku, I didn't know you could cook," he stated.  
  
Panseru - AKA, Yami Yugi - former pharaoh of Egypt now granted his own body after succeeding in the defeat of Zork Necrophadisu, just raised a dignified eyebrow.  
  
"Aibou, I'm not incompetent," he replied. "Just took me a moment to figure out how the stove worked..."  
  
Yugi giggled at the thought of his darker half trying to figure out how to operate the contraption. He turned to his mother then, crossing his arms behind his head.  
  
"What do you want me to do, okaa-san?"  
  
His mother looked up a moment from where she was making some cranberry sauce, a thoughtful look on her face.  
  
"Well, I suppose the only thing you could do is set the table and then get ready," she replied. "Panseru's got everything as far as helping cook is concerned."  
  
Yami Yugi took a moment to rub the back of his neck in embarrassment before returning his focus to what was in the pot. Yugi chuckled, before quickly and easily setting the table for the impending meal. After double-checking to make sure he would not be needed for anything, he went back into his room and then to the bathroom for a quick morning shower. He flopped onto his bed when he was done, now comfortable in his leather pants and tight knit shirt, all black of course. It was going to be another three hours until Arthur and Rebecca showed up, and he had nothing to do until then.  
  
Yugi propped himself up on his elbows, a thoughtful look overtaking his face. It had been what seemed like ages ago, but he remembered studying Thanksgiving in school, and why the Americans celebrated it. Basically it was a time to be thankful for everything a person had, and while he still did not fully understand why they needed a whole separate holiday for this, he was not about to overlook the fact that it gave him the opportunity to show how much a certain someone meant to him.  
  
Yugi jumped up and off the bed, padding over to his desk before throwing himself into the chair, reaching across for a pen and paper as he did so. He poured his little heart out onto that piece of paper, using the pen as his pitcher. After an hours worth of writing, crossing out, re-writing, and crossing out again; he finally finished everything he wanted to say.  
  
Working quickly, for he knew that the Hawkins' would be there any minute, Yugi folded up the paper in a pleasant origami duck - the only form he really knew how to do - before rushing off and setting the duck where he knew that the person he was thankful for would find it.  
  
~.oOOo.~  
  
Yami Yugi tried to keep the dull look off his face as he listened to Rebecca talking animatedly about some dig or other she had been on recently, as everyone else finished their last helpings. It was not that he did not like the young blonde, but it was just that she was at that age where she DID NOT know when to shut up. All through the meal, when she was not hitting on his little aibou - something that annoyed him to no end - she would just talk and talk and talk till it got to the point where the pharaoh wanted to reach over the table and strangle her. Arthur had a patient look on his face throughout it all. Apparently, he was used to it.  
  
"Saa, Yugi-kun," the professor cut in when his granddaughter paused to take a breath, "how are you -"  
  
Arthur cut himself off with a chuckle when he saw Yugi. Everyone was so busy listening to - or trying to ignore - Rebecca's chatter that no one had noticed that the small teenager was apparently tired. Now he was slouched back, his head propped up by the tall back of the chair he was in. Yami Yugi frowned, reaching across to his aibou to give him a light shake. Yugi was never one to fall asleep during a meal, unless he had gotten back from a grueling day at school.  
  
"Someone didn't know that tryptophan makes you drowsy," Arthur said with another chuckle.  
  
"Trip to fan?" Yami Yugi asked, confused.  
  
Yugi's grandfather, Sugoroku Mutou, laughed. "Tryptophan, Panseru-kun," he corrected. "It's something in the turkey that makes you sleepy."  
  
"It's not dangerous, is it?" the pharaoh asked, worried, trying to remember how much turkey he had eaten.  
  
"Of course not!" Rebecca exclaimed rudely. "It just makes you tired. Any dummy knows THAT."  
  
Yami Yugi glared, but Arthur put a hand on his granddaughter's arm and cut him off before he could snap back at the annoying girl.  
  
"Rebecca, please," the professor said, "don't be rude. Keep in mind, this is probably the first time Pharaoh-sama has even seen a turkey, much less eaten one."  
  
Rebecca pouted before muttering an apology. Yami Yugi resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he stood up, went over to where Yugi was sleeping, and picked him up gingerly.  
  
"I'm just going to put him to bed," he told the others as he headed for the hallway, "I'll be right back."  
  
A short walk down the corridor later, and the pharaoh was laying his little aibou on his bed. He smiled down at the teenager, reaching over to brush the blonde bangs of his tri-colored hair out of his face. Yugi was just adorable - almost impossibly so for someone his age - when he was awake, but even more so when he was asleep. If angels really did exist, then one was sleeping on the bed before him.  
  
Yami Yugi shook that thought away before a yawn escaped from his mouth. Apparently, that "trip to fan" stuff was starting to affect him as well. Deciding on a nap for himself, the pharaoh left his aibou's room and went across the way to his own; what had once been a study, now converted for his own use. He was about to flop onto the bed when he noticed a strange, sort of bird-like thing resting on the black comforter. It took him a moment to realize that it was just a fold piece of paper, and he grabbing it while smacking himself for his own stupidity; maybe that "trip to fan" stuff affected intelligence as well...?  
  
Recognizing his aibou's folding job, Yami Yugi made quick work of unfolding the origami, surprised to find a note of some kind concealed amongst the folds of paper. He smoothed it out, before attempting to read Yugi's neat and tiny scrawl:  
  
There are many things,  
That one can be thankful for,  
And I know I can list a few.  
  
I'm thankful for...  
The rain on a summer's day,  
To cool me off enough to play.  
  
I'm thankful for...  
The cherry blossom blooms,  
So much to sing a couple tunes.  
  
I'm thankful for...  
The first day of school,  
Though most find it un-cool.  
  
I'm thankful for...  
The first fall of leaves,  
So I can scatter them as I please.  
  
I'm thankful for...  
The snow falling on a cold day,  
No matter how hard that is to say.  
  
Despite all this, I must confess,  
These aren't what I'm thankful for the best.  
  
I have to say, what makes me the most thankful,  
Is definitely you.  
  
I love you, my other me.  
  
Yugi  
  
Yami Yugi smiled gently, ignoring the tear that was currently weaving a path down his cheek. His aibou really was a sweet, sweet person; there was no contesting that.  
  
The pharaoh poked his head back out the door to his room, looking back and forth down the hallway before creeping back into Yugi's room...  
  
~.oOOo.~  
  
Sugoroku fought the urge to yawn as he held open the door to the shop so Arthur could carry out his sleeping granddaughter. Night had fallen, and the professor decided that then would be a good time to start going back to the hotel they were currently staying at before he himself was too tired to drive there. He set Rebecca gently in the back passenger's seat and buckled her in before turning to his long time friend.  
  
"Thank you very much, Sugoroku-kun," Arthur said, giving the shorter man a friendly pat on the shoulder. "This meant so much to the two of us; we haven't been home to America in what seems like ages."  
  
"Any time, Arthur-kun," Sugoroku replied, smiling warmly. "You're both welcome here at any time."  
  
"Thank you, old friend," Arthur responded, opening up the diver's side door. "Tell Yugi and Pharaoh-sama 'good-bye' for us, okay?"  
  
Sugoroku nodded, before waving good-bye as the professor drove off down the street. Once the car was out of sight, however, he turned to look up to where Yugi's window was high above him. He KNEW that the young man had not had THAT much turkey. Even for someone his height, he should not have been knocked out for so long. Not only that, but what had happened to the pharaoh? True, the former spirit came and went as he pleased, but when he said he was going to be right back, he meant he was going to be right back!  
  
Frowning, Sugoroku went back into the shop, climbed up the stairs to the living area, approached Yami Yugi's door, and opened it a crack. Nothing was amiss inside, aside from the rumpled piece of paper lying on the comforter; but there was also no pharaoh inside as well. He turned to Yugi's door then across the way, his frown deepening. Hoping he was not going to be looking in on anything that would give him a heart attack, the elderly man opened the door just enough so he could peer into the room.  
  
"Now that is cute..." he muttered, smiling softly.  
  
On the bed inside, both Yugi and Yami Yugi were sound asleep. The pharaoh had an arm draped protectively over his smaller counterpart, while Yugi was curled up against him, facing him, looking like a young child drawn to a parent's warm embrace. Sugoroku smiled; he did not have the heart to wake the two of them up just to chase them off to their own beds.  
  
He closed the door gently, leaving yami and hikari to rest in their own worlds together...  
  
~.oO The End Oo.~  
  
~.oO Dedicated to: Oo.~  
Dad  
Lorna  
Aunt Marie  
Chibi Marie  
Josh  
Wendy  
Gigi  
Jesse  
Mike  
Jake  
Kristen  
Steve  
Psycho Mike  
and my own Aibou  
  
~.oO Happy Thanksgiving Oo.~ 


End file.
